Meet the Media Panel discussion

Last night I attended IABC's (International Association of Business Communicators) meet the media panel at the Accelerator Centre in Waterloo. Originally I didn't know what to expect and I was mainly interested in attending because I really like watching panel discussions.

The panel consisted of Michael Melling and Joel Bowey from CTV news, Joe Pavia of AM 570 News and Bob Vrbanac of the Waterloo Chronicle Newspaper.

I attended the event with Mike Christie and Jocelyn Lagerquist, two classmates of mine and it was nice to have them there because we were able to compare notes afterwards on what we found useful.

Basically the theme of the night was how to best get your story picked up by the media. A lot of the items were things I had learned in various classes from school but it was certainly nice to get a fresh perspective on things from actual practicing journalists and editors.

There were two concepts in particular I found enlightening. The concept of "head, heart and health" was mentioned. This basically means:

Does it improve/affect your life?
Does it tug the heart strings?
Does it have to do with health or well-being?

These are things that are apparently of immediate interest to a reporter or news editor and you should ask yourself if your story has one or more of these elements.

Another notion was that of the human element. Journalists can like a story but what will put it over the edge is if you can provide them with a real person to talk to, especially if that person is effected by whatever is going on. Journalists like to show someone their audience can relate to.

Many more interesting points were discussed and I will definitely keep them in mind the next time I begin to write up a story pitch.

IABC Grand Valley Chapter

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Exceptional writing touches all generations

I am an avid reader, simply voracious, almost dinosaur-like in my voracity. Every once in awhile there is a passage that just stands up and punches me straight in the nose with how poignant it is. The true test of how well written something is (I feel) is to take it out of the time it was written, a fish out of water if you will, and see how well it translates.

For an example of this I would like to share what I believe to be one of the most beautiful and well written passages ever. It is from one of my all time favourite book series and authors and I feel it touches my life, even today over a hundred years after it was originally published.

"What a lovely thing a rose is!"
He walked past the couch to the open window, and held up the drooping stalk of a moss rose, looking down at the dainty blend of crimson and green. It was a new phase of his character to me, for I had never before seen him show any keen interest in natural objects.
"There is nothing in which deduction is so necessary as in religion," said he, leaning with his back against the shutters. "It can be built up as an exact science by the reasoner. Our highest assurance of the goodness of providence seems to me to rest in the flowers. All other things, our powers, our desires, our food, are really necessary for our existence in the first instance. But this rose is an extra. Its smell and its colour are an embellishment of life, not a condition of it. It is only goodness which gives extras, and so I say again that we have much to hope from flowers."

-The adventures of Sherlock Holmes XXIII- The adventure of the naval treaty by Sir. Arthur Conan Doyle.

Inspired by some of the best

Through my classes at Conestoga College I have learned that I really like public speaking. I think this stems from a need to be the center of attention and the fact that I enjoy speaking directly to people over any other form of communication. When you can see people up close, view their facial expressions and read their emotions you can tap into a connection that is never duplicated through a phone call or an e-mail. Though I feel the written word can be powerful, nothing is more persuasive to me than a polished, yet personable, public speaker.

As I mentioned, I have been dabbling in the realm of speech writing and presentation skills. I thought I might post a sample introductory speech I wrote for a fictitious fundraiser.

Climate change and the encroachment of civilization on their traditional habitats have left polar bears with a reduced ability to gather food, mate and travel without great difficulty. We at the World Wildlife fund hope to raise money tonight and in the future to set up a series of wildlife preserves where these magnificent creatures can be safe and flourish.

Our keynote speaker tonight is the author of 43 books, numerous published columns and is the creator of some of the most popular television and radio programs about science, nature and environmentalism including the "nature of things" and "a planet for the taking."

He has dedicated his life to fighting climate change and reducing mankind's impact on the environment. Tonight he will give us the benefit of his many years of experience. Please join me in welcoming, Doctor David Suzuki.

In this speech I could introduce anyone I wanted, it just had to be a real person and I could choose any charity or organization as well. I chose the World Wildlife Fund because it is an organization I have a great deal of respect for. I also have had experience with them through online campaigning and the annual C.N tower climb (I finished in 20 minutes for the record).

This recent interest in speech writing and presentation has sparked a fascination with two web sites in particular. I have posted links to them under my "sites you should explore" section. The first is "TED" which is a group that invites some of the greatest thinkers of our times to present their thoughts on a variety of topics. Some of the speakers actually are pretty terrible but the subject matter is always intriguing.

Ted: Ideas worth Spreading

The second website is called "American Rhetoric." This is simply a collection of some of the best speeches and debates from movies. A lot of them are very schmaltzy and cheesy but nearly 99% are extremely engaging.

American Rhetoric

Enjoy!

A hopefully persuasive political post

With an election fast approaching in both Canada and the United States I find myself more and more drawn to politics. Perhaps this is a sign of the autumn years creeping towards me but I care who runs this grand country of ours.

I have voted in every election since my 18th birthday and I plan to do so until the day I die, some things are just too important to idly ignore. Some people say that they don't vote because they feel it doesn't make a difference, that no matter what, the liberals or the conservatives will win, and things will remain the same. I say to these people, bull honky. If you don't like the status quo, vote for change, if everyone does it then things have to.

I have always been a staunch green party supporter, never having cast one vote in the favour of either dominant party.

I personally vote green because:

• I love the environment, trees and grass are my bread and butter.
  
• I am passionate about animal rights and the survival of our wild friends. A recent study discovered that ONE IN FOUR mammal species worldwide are now endangered due to habitat loss, climate change and pollution. This needs to change.
  
• I support taxing big corporate polluters heavily and giving breaks to companies who commit to saving our planet by ignoring the greed and treading a path that is less lucrative but pays back with something more valuable than money.
• More money for green transit solutions and rail travel, anything to lower the burden of our choked highways on the environment. Waterloo has begun introducing hybrid buses but very few as I can imagine they are expensive. I would love to see more government support for this type of thing nation wide.
• I support a green national building retrofit program. The technology to transform our homes and small business into energy efficient, low impact places exists but is expensive, even more grants and incentives offered by the government to help offset these costs would be great.
• I support an increased focus on local foods and products. Not only does keeping things local lower emissions from international shipping (one of the most harmful things around right now) but it strengthens our economy and lowers our reliance on others to support us.

Our planet needs us to stop being so neglectful. Taxes and health care are important sure, but are they more important than maintaining the place we live for the future? I would hate for future Canadians to miss out on this rocking place we have:



I doubt I have changed anyone's mind on voting for their party of choice, and really that was never my goal. My goal was to convince you the next time you neglect to vote because you don't care about politics or hate the existing parties, slap yourself and wake up, no vote needs be wasted. Cast one for the little guy who cares about preserving our planet, who hasn't been given a chance to govern because the public doesn't want to "waste a vote." My friends, the only wasted vote is one cast for something you don't believe in.